World News Quick Take

Agencies

UNITED STATES

Men held over baby’s death

Two men were arrested on Friday in connection with the shooting death of a toddler in a stroller in New York City. Authorities had been seeking Daquan Breland, 23, and Daquan Wright, 19, for questioning in the death of one-year-old Antiq Hennis on Sunday. New York authorities said the boy’s father was pushing him in a stroller when multiple shots were fired. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police believe the father was the intended target and the gunfire may have been gang-related. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the killing “a tragedy for [the child’s] family, for this community, for the entire city.”

MEXICO

Teens in coke case freed

A federal judge has ordered the release of two teenagers who had claimed that the cocaine police found in their van was hidden in the vehicle before it was purchased at a US government auction. The federal court said in a statement on Friday that the judge delivered a verdict of not guilty after the prosecutor decided to drop charges. Federal police in November last year detained 18-year-old Sergio Torres Duarte and his 19-year-old friend, Julio Cesar Moreno, near the Pacific Coast resort city of Mazatlan as they traveled to attend a soccer match. Officers discovered a kilogram of cocaine hidden under the minivan’s dashboard. The Torres family had bought the vehicle at a US Customs and Border Protection auction in February last year. The minivan had been seized a year before for hiding bundles of cocaine and US officials acknowledged earlier this year in a letter to Mexican prosecutors that they may have failed to find all the drugs inside it.

EL SALVADOR

Gang shooting kills four

Police say four gang members have been killed in a drive-by shooting in a town where the government has aimed to bring down killings after street gangs mediated a truce. Deputy Police Commissioner Mauricio Ramirez said gunmen drove by a community center in Ilopango on Friday and killed three men and a 16-year-old boy standing outside. Ramirez said the victims belonged to the Mara 18 gang, which last year negotiated a truce with the rival Mara Salvatrucha gang that helped lower homicide rates. However, despite the truce, extortions continue to be carried out in the town outside San Salvador. Ilopango was the first “violence-free” municipality to receive part of a multi-million dollar investment to create jobs and open businesses in areas that have been prone to violence.

URUGUAY

Trafficking suspects charged

A court arraigned 18 suspects late on Thursday on charges of belonging to a human trafficking ring that transported Chinese workers to Argentina, court officials said. The arrests stemmed from a three-year probe into organized crime rings specializing in smuggling Chinese workers into Argentina, according to officials. Authorities said 10 of the 18 suspects remained in custody after the hearing. Human smugglers transport Chinese workers into Argentina by crossing the Uruguay River at night or sometimes enter the country by detouring through Brazil. In December last year, police broke up another ring that smuggled Chinese workers into Argentina. Those held included an Argentine police official and employees at the Uruguayan Department of Immigration, the authorities said, adding that those arrested were part of a much bigger operation.